Vapor bath stove



June 19, 1951 o HEDLUND 2,557,656

VAPOR BATH STOVE Filed Jan. 9, 19

Frans Oscar Harold HecHuncL Patented June 19, 1951 2,557,656 VAPOR BATH- STOVE Frans Oscar Harald Hedlund, .Motala, Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Hiigglund & Siiner, Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, a joint company of Sweden Application January 9, 1948, Serial No. 1,370 In Sweden November 31, 1945 3 Claims. I (Cl. 126344) The present invention relates to those bath stoves which comprise tubes extending within the stove, through which tubes the air to be heated circulates, and which further comprise a container for stones which, after heating, are flushed with water for the generation of steam in the bathroom. In this type of stove the stone container has consisted of a sheet metal box located on the outside of the stove, said box being filled with stones. This stove type is connected with the disadvantage that the time for heating the stones is rather long because the stones are heated indirectly. Furthermore, stoves are known in which the entire upper stove space constitutes a stone container and in which a cast iron grate separates the stone container from the fireplace. As a matter of fact, the stones are effectively heated in this case but they must be selected with a certain accuracy and placed in a particular 'manner in order not to jeopardize the draught in the stove and thus reduce the efilciency of the stove. In comparison with the first mentioned known type, this type of stove is also connected with the disadvantage, that considerably longer time is required for heating the air because the stove has no tubes for the circulation of the air. The object of the present invention is to combine the advantages of the two stove types mentioned above, the heating of the air being at the same time being made more eflicient by a special arrangement of the tubes in the stove.

The stove according to the present invention is substantially characterized in that at least some of the tubes in the stove are arranged in such manner inside the stove shell that they form the bottom of the stone container, and are placed in such manner that they allow the fire or the flue gases to directly influence the stones. Some of the tubes in the stove pass through the fireplace of the stove and limit the space thereof. In a suitable embodiment of the invention all or some of the tubes are bent angularly, the substantially horizontal angle legs of the said tubes constituting, or forming part of, the bottom of the stone container, while the other substantially vertical angle legs of the said tubes may form part of the walls of the stone container. The inflow openings of the said angularly bent tubes are located on the same side of the stove, preferably on the front side thereof.

The invention will be described hereinafter with reference to two embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a stove in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is the same stove as in Fig. 1, viewed in section on line II1I in Fig. 1. I Fig. 3 is the same stove as in Fig, 1 viewed in section on line III-III in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of a somewhat modified embodiment.

In the figures, the reference characters l-3 denote a stove shell with bottom 2 and roof 3.

4 is the fireplace and 5 the ash container. The fireplace 4 and the ash container 5 are separated by a cast iron grate 6, and they are accessible from the outside through doors I and 8. In the stove are five angularly bent tubes I! which open partly into the stove roof 3, partly above the fireplace 4 on the front side of the stove. The horizontal parts of the tubes I2 constitute the bottom of a container intended for stones l3. The stones [3 are accessible from above through a shutter H! in the stove roof 3. In said roof is also a pipe I6 for the exhaust flue gases.

A plate 25 extends from the horizontal parts of the tubes I2 to the flue gas outtake IS, the outflow opening of which is divided into two parts by the plate 25. The said plate and the stove shell form a flue gas passage 26 which encloses the vertical parts of air circulation -tubes. At the top the plate is provided with a damper 28 which is adjustable from the outside. I

When fire is made in the fireplace 4, the tubes I2 are heated very quickly because they are subjected to the direct "influence of the fire and of the flue gases. This results in a circulation of the air in the bath room, cold air being sucked in through the openings of the tubes on the front side of the stove. When passing through the heated tubes the air is heated and hot air flows out through the tubes in the stove roof 3. If the damper is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, the flue gases are forced to pass between the tubes [2 and the stones l3 in the stone container, as shown by the full arrows, and to give off their heat to the said stones. After the stones have become suificiently heated, the damper is caused to assume the position indicated in dash and dot lines in Fig. 2. The flue gases are then forced to pass through the passage 26 in the manner indicated by the dash and dot arrows. The shutter l4 may now be opened and the stones may be flushed with water without any flue gases entering the bath room. After a sufiicient quantity of steam has been generated, the shutter I4 is shut and the'damper 28 is returned to its earlier position, the stones being heated again directly from the fireplace.

Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of a smaller stove in which the bottom of the stone container consists of three tubes 30 only located obliquely within the stove. The stove is enclosed on three sides by a sheet metal protection casing 3| which in an effective manner will contribute to the heating of the air surrounding the stove,;the said casing causing the air to sweep the stove shell in a narrow space. In Fig. 4, also, the partition 25 is sloping upwardly toward the flue outlet [6 instead of being vertical as its counterpart .25 in the embodiment according to Figs. 1-3. Furthermore, the shutters 1' andM in Fig. 4 .are arranged vertically and horizontally, respectively, instead of being disposed on sloping walls as are their counterparts 1 and [4 respectively in Figs. 1-3.

Test stoves built in accordance scribed embodiments have proved very economical because the bath room ,air as well as the stones to be flushed with water can be very quickly heated. Due to the efficiency of the stove many more groups of persons can use the bath room within a certain period of time than has been possible with the stoves hitherto used.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments shown, several variations being possible within the scope of the invention. Thus, the stove may be provided with vertical tubes extending between the roof and the bottom. Furthermore, some of these tubes may limit the fireplace space, and of the angularly bent tubes the vertical angle legs may form part of the walls of the stone container, preferably the rear wall thereof.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a vapor bath stove, in combination, a walled casing provided with a combustion chamber in the lower part thereof and with a compartment for holding stones to be heated in the upper part thereof, said stone holding compartment being provided with an outlet opening at the upper part thereof, a plurality of air heating conduits, said conduits being positioned in said casing and extending therethrough, and being so arranged therein as to form a grate-like bottom for said stone holding compartment, one vertical wall of said stone holding compartment being formed by a substantially vertical partition which extends through the upper part of said casing and divides said casing into two vertically-spaced portions at that part thereof which is above said with the de- Y grate-like bottom of said stone holding compartment, said partition forming, together with the exterior wall of said casing, a flue channel providing an outlet for the escape of the flue gases from the combustion chamber, and an adjustable damper positioned adjacent the upper outlet of said flue channel, saiddamper being adjustable to two positions, in one of which it serves to close said outlet from the upper part of said stone holding compartment, and in the other of which it serves to close the outlet of said fiue channel.

2. A vapor bath stove as defined in claim 1, in which said air heating conduits are substantially L-shaped in longitudinal extent, each including a vertically-extending portion and that portion thereof which, together with similar portions of other air heating conduits, forms said grate-like bottom for said stone holding compartment, said vertically-extending portion being positioned at an angle not exceeding ninety degrees with respect to said grate-forming portion.

3. A vapor bath stove as defined in claim 1, in which said air heating conduits are substantially L-shaped in longitudinal extent, each including a vertically extending-portion which is positioned so as to extend upwardly in said flue channel, and a horizontally-extending portion which, together with the horizontally-extending portions of other air heating conduits, forms said gratelike bottom for said stone holding compartment, said vertically-extending portion and said horizontally-extending portion being positioned substantially at right angles to each other.

FRANS OSCAR HARALD HEDLUND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 26,058 Schieferdecker Nov. 8, 1859 599,559 Hampton Feb. 22, 1898 1,400,299 McAdam Dec. 13, 1921 1,857,024 Hulme May 3, 1932 2,096,649 Rasanen Oct. 19, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 64,056 Denmark Oct. 15, 1945 64,332 Denmark Mar. 11, 1946 67,858 Norway May 22, 1944 

